I have been very interested in finding out what all the buzz surrounding David Platt’s best-seller “Radical” is all about. After hearing him teach some unconventional ideas at the Catalyst Conference in Dallas this year, I approached his newest offering “Radical Together” with some skepticism.
However, I found many concepts to applaud in the book. After all, it’s not enough to just get personally radical for Christ, we are called to follow Christ with others in the context of the local church. Each chapter is built around an apparent non sequitur or shocking statement in order to illicit a response from the reader. Noting the abundance of churches and resources in the US, he challenges us to give sacrificially to foreign missions. He calls us to think globally beyond our own borders. He asks how often do we settle for the good, instead of choosing God’s best? Platt skillfully describes the tightrope walk of faith and works and adds to our understanding of the meaning of grace. He emphasizes the centrality of prayer and the importance of adoption. He reminds us of the truth that God does not need us to further His kingdom, but He lovingly chooses to use us for His glory.
When Platt sets up a straw man through the stereotypical modern church, he veers off course. It seems Platt inherited all the trappings that go along with pastoring a wealthy mega-church. And it’s within this setting that he feels confident in criticizing the excess that has become a part of those churches. He imagines scores of pastors who’ve decided they would rather not use the Bible as the basis for their teaching. It’s just that those pastors aren’t in the churches I know of.
The extent of the vision that he says today’s leaders are calling us to is to dream about bigger buildings or how many people will attend in the future. Again, I can’t imagine the context that just dreaming of great music and a killer light show would go over in.
He really misses the mark when he tells of a talk with a mega-church pastor friend who is apparently sharp enough to pastor such a church, but is too ignorant to imagine doing things in the more traditional way that Platt espouses. Instead of trying to equip the people of the church for ministry, this pastor thinks the staff should do all the ministry. However, I’ve never heard one serious leader teach or demonstrate that ministry is to be done only by the “pros.” So, in the end, I am in complete agreement with Platt that building a healthy church depends on equipping the people for service. It’s just that it’s not as controversial of an idea as he seems to believe.
Overall, the book is a much-needed call to take big risks to do whatever we can to reach our world for Christ together, but it is marred by his need to set himself against other churches and pastors who he doesn’t think measure up to his radical call. In the interest of full disclosure, WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group sent me this book for free for this review.